Subic Bay Wreck Course, 25-29 Nov. '06

Kevrumbo · October 23rd, 2006, 02:43 AM

Been invited to attend a Technical Wreck Penetration Class with Asia Divers in Subic Bay Philippines, on the USS New York. Curious to see how much more of a challenge this class will be over previously completed NAUI Wreck Penetration 1 and NACD Cavern Courses. . . (Anxious about the reported deteriorating condition of the USS New York, and the wisdom of doing a penetration checkout dive inside).

Links:
http://www.asiadivers.com/techasia/coursedetails.php#7
http://www.asiadivesite.com/philippi...s-new-york.php

(Following quote below is the Course Schedule & Syllabus.)

Is there a comprehensive Wreck Class anywhere that is just as demanding as this one, and is near DIR compliant --short of a full GUE Cave 1 Course?. . .

Quote:

Contacts
Sam Collett (Tech Asia) 0928 7779114
Chuck Driver (Masterdive) 0918 9014571
Dave Ross (Tech Asia) 0917 3310298
John Dodd (Masterdive) 0916 7630788
Alex Santos (IANTD Phils) 0917 5292599
El Galleon 0917 8145107
Donna (Blue Rock) 0920 9507732
Subic Port Authority
Subic Recompression Chamber 252 7052 or 252 7566 Mr Nonong Laban
Subic Ambulance service

Course Schedule

Day 1 Morning
Issue Manuals, Printouts.
Sign Liability Releases, Medical Statements, Record files.

Mini Lectures
Equipment setup and streamlining
Line, Spools and Reels
Lights
Hand Signals

Dry Dive #1
Intro to line skills and procedures in a simulated wreck
Lunch

Afternoon
Dive #1
El Capitan 20m Nitrox + Oxygen deco
S Drills, Gas Management, Line Laying, Line Pulling, Gas Shares
Night
Dry Dive #2
Simulated Night Dive, Light and hand signals only, Lay and Pull line.

Day 2 Morning

Dive #2
El Capitan 20m Nitrox + Oxygen deco
S Drills, Lay and Pull line, Gas Shares with Exit
Lunch
Afternoon
Mini Lectures
Missing Diver procedures
Lost Line procedures
Touch Contact
Night
Dive # 3
El Capitan 20m Nitrox + Oxygen deco
S Drills, Lay line and Pull line,
Missing Diver exercise, Exit Touch Contact only (Lights out).

Day 3

Morning
Mini Lectures
Gas shares through restrictions
Gaps
Cut line

Dive # 4
El Capitan 20m Nitrox + Oxygen deco
S drills, Gap to second line,
Gas Shares through restrictions (2 person and 3 person).
Lunch

Afternoon
Mini Lectures
Gas Matching
Gas Management
Stress Management
Lost Line Drills (Silt out / Black out)
Anti Silting techniques
Night
Dive # 5
El Capitan 20m Nitrox + Oxygen deco
S Drills, Lay line and Pull line, Anti Silting, Line Search.

Day 4 Morning

Dive # 6
USS New York or LST
30 m Nitrox +Oxygen deco
Experience Dive

Exam
Lunch

Afternoon
Dive #7
USS New York or LST
30m Nitrox + Oxygen deco
Experience Dive

Certification

……………………………………………………

jerry.mobbs · October 23rd, 2006, 03:13 PM

Kev,

Have a look at

http://homepage.mac.com/jerry.mobbs/...Theater25.html

for some footage of the new york

its a great wreck with anything from 'easy sightseeing' type dives to 'how the F%$k do i fit through there type dives'

the course really depends on the team, much like anything

if your team is like a bunch of type A stockbrokers you would not want to be in a traffic jam with (the been there, done that, fools rush in crowd), then you can have a lot of fun on el capitan and the lst without getting into trouble

however if your more like a bunch of high school librarians planning a sneaky weekend away to a brothel (ie slow and methodical and aware that you could end up in the poo), then you will have a lot of fun on the new york

sam pretty much scales the course to the abilty / comfort level of the team

you will be laying a LOT of line, so if you feel you need to do more of this in a wreck environment, then its a good course

if you've already done the naui cse, the syllabus is probably similar, but i doubt the cavern cse will do this amount of overhead and line laying

if you personally have doen a lot of line laying, then i'd check with sam to see what the level of the rest of the team is

the new york is deteriorating, but not so much that its fundamantally unstable or dangerous, you can still get to all the good bits safely

its a fun wreck and worth the trip just to dive the new york, i was last there in jun

if you going down to PG after the course, then i'll see you there for the first 2 weeks of dec

jerry

ps, i must confess to a bias as sam is a mate

GLOC · October 24th, 2006, 12:12 AM

Nice clip Jerry and thanks for reminding me of Spitting Image - what a great series that needs to be repeated now!

Kevrumbo · October 24th, 2006, 03:31 AM

Very nice Video (love the soundtrack bit from Mary Poppins

)!
Thanks Jerry for the advice and a preview of what to expect. . .

jerry.mobbs · October 24th, 2006, 05:31 PM

if you get a chance to dive with the false killer whales in subic, then do it

its awesome

their pen is close to el capitan and you can hear their calls inside the wreck

Kevrumbo · December 22nd, 2006, 07:33 AM

A very challenging extension & practicum to Wrecks of what otherwise would've been a comprehensive Cavern/Cave Course. The advantage of Subic Bay is the variety and close easy access of sunken wrecks to train on: from a DC-10 fuselage at only 5m deep, where me and my two classmates spent an entire two hour dive just drilling on the basics of laying line, problem solving & gas-sharing egress and coming together as a team; to the El Capitan Wreck at 18-20m where we were introduced to the art of laying very long lengths of line --over two spools worth-- and where we performed a Night Dive, lights out gas-sharing egress drill over a major length of the main line (over 50 meters long: we made it out with my donor having only 10bar left in backgas --I had to share my gas with him for our Deco stops on ascent!

); and finally the deep wrecks at over 30m like the USS New York (similar experience & orientation like the Yukon Wreck in San Diego --the ship is laying on its side with the portholes functioning like skylights) and the LST Wreck --where I experienced helping to pull line in a total silt-out (was like swimming around in ice tea with marmalade bits, in a long cylindrical passage restriction the size of a phonebooth! I didn't dare lose contact of the line on that one. . .)

My only criticism was that the Instructor didn't teach the form of deliberate touch-contact communication, common to a previous Wreck and Cavern Class that I took --instead we were just told just to stay in contact with the line, and feel for your teammate's push-on-your fins from behind signaling to move forward, and just keep moving as fast as possible. His argument was that touch contact egress as formally taught in Cave Classes is too slow & time-consuming. My counter-point was that an experienced and seasoned team can make it out almost as quickly, with less chance of losing one another or blundering onto the wrong line (and so I proceeded to show my two teammates the way Andrew Georgitsis taught me in 5thd-x's Wreck Penetration Class). Well . . .it turns out both the Instructor and I had valid points since my teammates & I exited the El Capitan Wreck on a no-lights, gas-sharing egress drill with my donor only having 10bar left! The Lessons Learned are that you have to regularly practice this Drill with a dedicated 3-man team to gain efficiency, but even then, you've got to be aware there could come a time where you just might have to switch-over on donors. . .

There were no Gremlin Blue Hands of Death in this class, but Sam the Instructor did manage to arrange enough "situational overload" to confound us so as to learn from our mistakes. A couple of times as the lead Reel Man laying line, I would get too far ahead of my fellow teammates where either one of them "gets lost" (Lost Buddy Drill); or one would somehow have an "inflator hose leak" (resulting in Right Post Shutdown), and then the other team member soon afterwards "losing all his breathing gas" --Well, it turned out they had to actually Buddy Breathe for a few moments until they rounded a corner and caught sight of me up ahead (anyone wonder why now there's a breath-hold swim requirement in DIR-F?).

The only skill I had problems with was the Lost Line Drill, made more difficult because during both trials I managed to lose one or both of my contact lenses and never got an initial good look at the Main Line I was trying to find anyway. Consequently, my search patterns were woefully erratic and off-base ("Wow! Almost just like you really were lost!", as Sam later quipped). Took 20 minutes before I gave-up on my first attempt (18m deep at Night, in some cargo hold of the El Capitan), and 10 minutes before I luckily found it in a covered corridor on the LST (24m deep during the Daytime, but I had to close my eyes and was also accruing near max limits of my Deco Plan). A serious and grave situation to be in for real, and it really hit home with me because of my difficulties (I must've swam & finned head-on into every damn pipe and stanchion in that LST deck corridor before I snagged the Main Line!

). It only took less than three minutes each for my teammates Dennis and Dave to complete the Drill.

And so in evaluation, this Course was a great summing-up Reinforcement and Lab Practical for all the previous overhead penetration classes I've had over this past year-and-a-half. Highly recommend Subic Bay as a venue for advanced Wreck Training through Instructor Sam Collett and the Tech Asia Dive Shop.
(GUE Cave 1??? --ain't no big thang! --bring it on Homeboyz!

)

sasdasdaf · December 22nd, 2006, 09:42 AM

great, sounds like you had a good time. i am diving with the same folks at tech asia in puerto galera 1st week of new year. hope i get a chance to try subic bay one day.

October 23rd, 2006, 02:43 AM	#1 (permalink)
Kevrumbo(Offline) New Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: El Segundo CA, South Santa Monica Bay, USA Posts: 133	Subic Bay Wreck Course, 25-29 Nov. '06 Been invited to attend a Technical Wreck Penetration Class with Asia Divers in Subic Bay Philippines, on the USS New York. Curious to see how much more of a challenge this class will be over previously completed NAUI Wreck Penetration 1 and NACD Cavern Courses. . . (Anxious about the reported deteriorating condition of the USS New York, and the wisdom of doing a penetration checkout dive inside). Links: http://www.asiadivers.com/techasia/coursedetails.php#7 http://www.asiadivesite.com/philippi...s-new-york.php (Following quote below is the Course Schedule & Syllabus.) Is there a comprehensive Wreck Class anywhere that is just as demanding as this one, and is near DIR compliant --short of a full GUE Cave 1 Course?. . . Quote: Contacts Sam Collett (Tech Asia) 0928 7779114 Chuck Driver (Masterdive) 0918 9014571 Dave Ross (Tech Asia) 0917 3310298 John Dodd (Masterdive) 0916 7630788 Alex Santos (IANTD Phils) 0917 5292599 El Galleon 0917 8145107 Donna (Blue Rock) 0920 9507732 Subic Port Authority Subic Recompression Chamber 252 7052 or 252 7566 Mr Nonong Laban Subic Ambulance service Course Schedule Day 1 Morning Issue Manuals, Printouts. Sign Liability Releases, Medical Statements, Record files. Mini Lectures Equipment setup and streamlining Line, Spools and Reels Lights Hand Signals Dry Dive #1 Intro to line skills and procedures in a simulated wreck Lunch Afternoon Dive #1 El Capitan 20m Nitrox + Oxygen deco S Drills, Gas Management, Line Laying, Line Pulling, Gas Shares Night Dry Dive #2 Simulated Night Dive, Light and hand signals only, Lay and Pull line. Day 2 Morning Dive #2 El Capitan 20m Nitrox + Oxygen deco S Drills, Lay and Pull line, Gas Shares with Exit Lunch Afternoon Mini Lectures Missing Diver procedures Lost Line procedures Touch Contact Night Dive # 3 El Capitan 20m Nitrox + Oxygen deco S Drills, Lay line and Pull line, Missing Diver exercise, Exit Touch Contact only (Lights out). Day 3 Morning Mini Lectures Gas shares through restrictions Gaps Cut line Dive # 4 El Capitan 20m Nitrox + Oxygen deco S drills, Gap to second line, Gas Shares through restrictions (2 person and 3 person). Lunch Afternoon Mini Lectures Gas Matching Gas Management Stress Management Lost Line Drills (Silt out / Black out) Anti Silting techniques Night Dive # 5 El Capitan 20m Nitrox + Oxygen deco S Drills, Lay line and Pull line, Anti Silting, Line Search. Day 4 Morning Dive # 6 USS New York or LST 30 m Nitrox +Oxygen deco Experience Dive Exam Lunch Afternoon Dive #7 USS New York or LST 30m Nitrox + Oxygen deco Experience Dive Certification …………………………………………………… __________________ "Live never to be ashamed if anything you do or say is published [or posted] around the world --even if what is published is not true. . ."

October 23rd, 2006, 03:13 PM	#2 (permalink)
jerry.mobbs(Offline) New Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: asia Posts: 288	Kev, Have a look at http://homepage.mac.com/jerry.mobbs/...Theater25.html for some footage of the new york its a great wreck with anything from 'easy sightseeing' type dives to 'how the F%$k do i fit through there type dives' the course really depends on the team, much like anything if your team is like a bunch of type A stockbrokers you would not want to be in a traffic jam with (the been there, done that, fools rush in crowd), then you can have a lot of fun on el capitan and the lst without getting into trouble however if your more like a bunch of high school librarians planning a sneaky weekend away to a brothel (ie slow and methodical and aware that you could end up in the poo), then you will have a lot of fun on the new york sam pretty much scales the course to the abilty / comfort level of the team you will be laying a LOT of line, so if you feel you need to do more of this in a wreck environment, then its a good course if you've already done the naui cse, the syllabus is probably similar, but i doubt the cavern cse will do this amount of overhead and line laying if you personally have doen a lot of line laying, then i'd check with sam to see what the level of the rest of the team is the new york is deteriorating, but not so much that its fundamantally unstable or dangerous, you can still get to all the good bits safely its a fun wreck and worth the trip just to dive the new york, i was last there in jun if you going down to PG after the course, then i'll see you there for the first 2 weeks of dec jerry ps, i must confess to a bias as sam is a mate __________________ -------------------- www.crossfit.com The DIR of Fitness

October 24th, 2006, 12:12 AM	#3 (permalink)
GLOC(Offline) Moderator Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Fleet, Hants Posts: 1,949	Nice clip Jerry and thanks for reminding me of Spitting Image - what a great series that needs to be repeated now! __________________ Gareth Images of Life Photography DIR Team Foxturd Travels Underwater and Further Afar If you don't have the time to do something right, where are you going to find the time to fix it? - Stephen King

October 24th, 2006, 03:31 AM	#4 (permalink)
Kevrumbo(Offline) New Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: El Segundo CA, South Santa Monica Bay, USA Posts: 133	Very nice Video (love the soundtrack bit from Mary Poppins)! Thanks Jerry for the advice and a preview of what to expect. . . __________________ "Live never to be ashamed if anything you do or say is published [or posted] around the world --even if what is published is not true. . ."

October 24th, 2006, 05:31 PM	#5 (permalink)
jerry.mobbs(Offline) New Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: asia Posts: 288	if you get a chance to dive with the false killer whales in subic, then do it its awesome their pen is close to el capitan and you can hear their calls inside the wreck __________________ -------------------- www.crossfit.com The DIR of Fitness

December 22nd, 2006, 07:33 AM	#6 (permalink)
Kevrumbo(Offline) New Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: El Segundo CA, South Santa Monica Bay, USA Posts: 133	Short Class Report, IANTD Technical Wreck Cert. A very challenging extension & practicum to Wrecks of what otherwise would've been a comprehensive Cavern/Cave Course. The advantage of Subic Bay is the variety and close easy access of sunken wrecks to train on: from a DC-10 fuselage at only 5m deep, where me and my two classmates spent an entire two hour dive just drilling on the basics of laying line, problem solving & gas-sharing egress and coming together as a team; to the El Capitan Wreck at 18-20m where we were introduced to the art of laying very long lengths of line --over two spools worth-- and where we performed a Night Dive, lights out gas-sharing egress drill over a major length of the main line (over 50 meters long: we made it out with my donor having only 10bar left in backgas --I had to share my gas with him for our Deco stops on ascent! ); and finally the deep wrecks at over 30m like the USS New York (similar experience & orientation like the Yukon Wreck in San Diego --the ship is laying on its side with the portholes functioning like skylights) and the LST Wreck --where I experienced helping to pull line in a total silt-out (was like swimming around in ice tea with marmalade bits, in a long cylindrical passage restriction the size of a phonebooth! I didn't dare lose contact of the line on that one. . .) My only criticism was that the Instructor didn't teach the form of deliberate touch-contact communication, common to a previous Wreck and Cavern Class that I took --instead we were just told just to stay in contact with the line, and feel for your teammate's push-on-your fins from behind signaling to move forward, and just keep moving as fast as possible. His argument was that touch contact egress as formally taught in Cave Classes is too slow & time-consuming. My counter-point was that an experienced and seasoned team can make it out almost as quickly, with less chance of losing one another or blundering onto the wrong line (and so I proceeded to show my two teammates the way Andrew Georgitsis taught me in 5thd-x's Wreck Penetration Class). Well . . .it turns out both the Instructor and I had valid points since my teammates & I exited the El Capitan Wreck on a no-lights, gas-sharing egress drill with my donor only having 10bar left! The Lessons Learned are that you have to regularly practice this Drill with a dedicated 3-man team to gain efficiency, but even then, you've got to be aware there could come a time where you just might have to switch-over on donors. . . There were no Gremlin Blue Hands of Death in this class, but Sam the Instructor did manage to arrange enough "situational overload" to confound us so as to learn from our mistakes. A couple of times as the lead Reel Man laying line, I would get too far ahead of my fellow teammates where either one of them "gets lost" (Lost Buddy Drill); or one would somehow have an "inflator hose leak" (resulting in Right Post Shutdown), and then the other team member soon afterwards "losing all his breathing gas" --Well, it turned out they had to actually Buddy Breathe for a few moments until they rounded a corner and caught sight of me up ahead (anyone wonder why now there's a breath-hold swim requirement in DIR-F?). The only skill I had problems with was the Lost Line Drill, made more difficult because during both trials I managed to lose one or both of my contact lenses and never got an initial good look at the Main Line I was trying to find anyway. Consequently, my search patterns were woefully erratic and off-base ("Wow! Almost just like you really were lost!", as Sam later quipped). Took 20 minutes before I gave-up on my first attempt (18m deep at Night, in some cargo hold of the El Capitan), and 10 minutes before I luckily found it in a covered corridor on the LST (24m deep during the Daytime, but I had to close my eyes and was also accruing near max limits of my Deco Plan). A serious and grave situation to be in for real, and it really hit home with me because of my difficulties (I must've swam & finned head-on into every damn pipe and stanchion in that LST deck corridor before I snagged the Main Line! ). It only took less than three minutes each for my teammates Dennis and Dave to complete the Drill. And so in evaluation, this Course was a great summing-up Reinforcement and Lab Practical for all the previous overhead penetration classes I've had over this past year-and-a-half. Highly recommend Subic Bay as a venue for advanced Wreck Training through Instructor Sam Collett and the Tech Asia Dive Shop. (GUE Cave 1??? --ain't no big thang! --bring it on Homeboyz! ) __________________ "Live never to be ashamed if anything you do or say is published [or posted] around the world --even if what is published is not true. . ."

December 22nd, 2006, 09:42 AM	#7 (permalink)
sasdasdaf(Offline) New Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Singapore Posts: 375	great, sounds like you had a good time. i am diving with the same folks at tech asia in puerto galera 1st week of new year. hope i get a chance to try subic bay one day.